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I tried very hard to find SOMETHING to post about for Music Monday that was in no way related to the recent loss of Michael Jackson. With the world still reeling from his death, the media is still all over this “news”, and the fact that yesterday was supposed to be the beginning of his 50 show “comeback” tour doesn’t help. There’s still speculation over his cause of death, as well as the impending custody battle over his three kids. There’s stories of them possibly being exploited and marketed by their grandfather, the way their father was before them and there’s the heartbreaking story of his daughter purchasing a broken heart necklace after his death, leaving one piece in his coffin and vowing to “wear the other half forever”. Heartbreaking stuff.

But, life goes on and so must the music. Tell this to the people who write the music news! In light of the fact that NOTHING caught my eye and inspired me, I’m going to have to USE Michael Jackson to form my own information. So, today’s blog will focus on the young man from “Britain’s Got Talent” who wowed us all at the King of Pop’s memorial. His name is Shaheen Jafargholi and he is only 12 years old. Apparently, he made his mark on the British talent show by singing songs by the Jackson 5 and, reportedly, Michael Jackson saw a performance on YouTube and invited Shaheen to join him on his This Is It tour in London. While poor Shaheen missed that opportunity, he did move the crowd at Jackson’s memorial with a rendition of ‘Who’s Loving You”. It was almost as if the boy had channeled the sound of a young Michael Jackson! Although his American debut was under the most terrible of circumstances, I see a career in this boy’s future.

On Thursday, June 25, the world of music abruptly changed forever. Michael Jackson (aka- “The King of Pop”) passed away in Los Angeles after suffering from cardiac arrest at the age of 50. I never imagined that I would feel his loss so profoundly, but I’m finding myself drawn to the news and sad that he’s gone. And, since I’d only recently blogged about his upcoming London show schedule, I felt it only appropriate that I write a tribute post as well.

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He was the seventh of nine children. At a very young age, Michael was thrust, along with his four brothers, into the spotlight as The Jackson 5. Everyone remembers the phenomenal family act, but Michael was destined for more. He moved on from The Jackson 5 and become the single best-selling artist of all time. Songs like “Billie Jean”, “Bad”, and “Thriller”, as well as countless others, secured Michael’s spot as “The King of Pop).

Unfortunately, there were times when his rocky personal life overshadowed his remarkable talent. There were the “marriages of convenience” to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe (who, in my opinion, was merely a gold digger–who else would give up her children for an “undisclosed lump sum”?). Then, there were the plastic surgeries and skin disease that made him completely unrecognizable as the 11-year old Michael who won hearts with The Jackson 5.

Sadly, the most overpowering parts of his personal life were the rumors and accusations of inappropriate conduct with young boys at his Neverland Ranch. I, personally, choose to believe in his innocence. I believe, as others have said in the past few days, that he was just a lonely little boy trapped in an adult’s body. I don’t think he was allowed to have much of a childhood so he lived vicariously through the children to whom he opened his heart and his home. Besides, as a parent, I know that, if someone had done inappropriate things to MY child, there’s no way I would let them “settle out of court” for ANY amount of money!! Adults want to condemn what they cannot fully understand, and Michael was the target of many cruel jokes, making it no wonder he preferred the company of children. He often said that children “weren’t mean to him”. I might be wrong about it, but with Michael gone, the truth is gone with him and I’m glad I’ll never know for sure!

I find Michael’s life almost as sad as his untimely death. He appeared to be a sad, lonely, sheltered human being who longed for love, acceptance and understanding. In the end, though, he had more of all of those things than he likely realized. He was truly an amazing talent and he will be deeply missed.

“If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
—Michael Jackson
(August 29, 1958–June 25, 2009)

I love a good musical. I even sometimes love a bad musical. I’m hoping that the new “Footloose” proves to be one of the good ones. They’ve already cast Chace Crawford, which is someone that I, being 30 years old, have never heard of, and they’re in talks to cast Julianne Hough opposite him. Most of us “older folks” (and I use “older” loosely, because I’m not that old) will know Julianne from Dancing With The Stars. She’s a fabulous dancer and she’s even coming into her own as a singer. I’m not as much a fan of her singing, because a) I don’t really like country music that much and b) she has one of those mousy, child-like voices that doesn’t appeal to me. But, she’s great if you’re into that kind of thing. At any rate, I think she’d do very well in that role and I’m almost a little excited about it! Besides, maybe if Julianne successfully crosses from dancing to music to movies, her brother, Derek, will follow in her footsteps, as he did with DWTS, and he makes GREAT eye-candy!!

Time will tell if Julianne gets the role, but even if she doesn’t, I think I’m excited about a “Footloose” remake!

If only I were about 7 or 8 years younger, with one less kid in tow…I would have been first in line for Bonnaroo this past weekend! To be honest, I’d never heard of Bonnaroo until a girl I know was lucky enough to get to go. For those who have been living under the same rock I have, Bonnaroo is an annual music festival–seemingly not unlike Woodstock, in certain ways–that takes place in June each year. This year, it was held last weekend, June 11-14, in Manchester, Tennessee. Manchester is located 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

The music acts that perform there are insane!! This year, they had Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu, Merle Haggard, Elvis Costello and Jimmy Buffett, just to name a few! Tickets are in the neighborhood of $250, depending on when you buy them, but knowing what you get for that, I think it’s well worth it!

One of the really neat things that grabbed my attention was the “Silent Disco” they have at night. Each person who comes is given a set of headphones to wear and everyone is listening to the same song and dancing along, but, to the average joe sitting outside, it would appear that they’re dancing with no music at all. This was designed to be fun for the night owls, while not disturbing the campers nearby.

And, if you need a break from the music, they have many comedians who perform nightly, as well. This year they had Jimmy Fallon and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog as well as many others.

I would LOVE to be able to go to Bonnaroo one year. I think it would be amazing and super fun!! Anyone wanna come along??

Check out these MP3 Downloads from Bonnaroo (I highly recommend Trani by Kings of Leon!)

Now that American Idol has ended (and, for the record, not the way I wanted), I can focus my attention on other things. Today, the news is surrounding Susan Boyle, who has been the shocker on Britain’s Got Talent. For anyone who has yet to see her on the news, this is a frumpy looking woman with a beautiful voice. She got many eye rolls from the audience as well as Simon Cowell, who we ALL know as the “evil one” from American Idol. In his defense, at first glance, she honestly wouldn’t LOOK like someone you’d buy a CD from….but she can belt out a song like nobody’s business! She made it to the second round in the competition and will sing in the show’s finale on Saturday. I have to say, I’m rooting for her. Obviously, being in the US, my opinion doesn’t count, but I really hope she wins it for all of us who are older and don’t fit the stereotype. Listen to Susan’s talent in the semi-finals where she brought tears to the eyes of the judges! (and being a CATs fan myself, mine too! beautiful job!)

Anyone who has known me for any amount of time knows that I’ve been an American Idol fan since Season 1. I was sitting on my big, fat, pregnant butt watching as Kelly Clarkson was “crowned” in 2002 and now, fast foward seven years and we’re approaching the Season 8 Finale. I’ve followed this season from the auditions and, although Adam Lambert wasn’t my first choice for the winner, he’s my favorite of the two remaining contestants. He did, however, produce one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard on AI

Adam is super talented and his career will take off after he wins American Idol, which he’s sure to do, since his remaining opponent just slipped in sorta accidental-like, knocking MY number one pick to third place.
I have to take time in this blog to mention MY pick, Danny Gokey. I followed him from the auditions and fully expected him to nap the top spot (at the VERY least, second, but he totally should have taken the whole thing). He got some of his best comments on his “What Hurts the Most” performance, but I really, REALLY like the job he did on this one:

Should have made the finals!! Either way, tune in to see who wins Wednesday and remember, we haven’t heard the last from Danny!

American Idol and the UK version of the show, the X Factor have been responsible for finding some of the best music talent on the globe. Today, we’re paying tribute to the UK singing sensation, Leona Lewis.

Leona shot to fame out of obscurity, after applying to the X Factor UK talent contest in 2006, she found herself as the winner of the competition with a £1 million recording contract. People in the UK took Leona to their hearts and have continued to value her as a national treasure and it’s all because of that amazing voice!

Leona’s first single, ‘A Moment like This’ broke world records when the single was downloaded 50,000 times in just 30 minutes. Discontent with breaking just one world record, Leona’s second single ‘Bleeding Love’, broke records all over the globe as it topped over thirty charts.

The UK music industry breeds much unique talent but the majority of this talent never filters through to the US. In the UK, the idea of ‘cracking America’ is the holy grail of the music industry. The Beatles did it and now, Leona has done it.

As the UK’s most successful export to the US, Leona Lewis was the first British solo artist to reach the almighty heights of the number one spot in the US Billboard charts with her album ‘Spirit’.

The talent contest that launched Leona, The X Factor, is currently showing on screens in the UK with a recognizably high standard of performance. Singers in the UK are clearly upping their game to compete with the almighty talent of Leona and it seems that they are doing her proud, Alexandra Burke, one of the current contestants has been billed as ‘the next Leona’, and the obscure talent of Diana Vickers has been picked up by record producers across the globe as something unique and truly exciting.

Take a listen to some of the best of British and prepare to be surprised!

http://www.littlewoodsbingo.com

I like Avril … don’t hate me. K?

The YouTube vids for this song aren’t embeddable so you’ll have to hop over there if you want to check them out.
Girlfriend Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQ25-glGRzI
Video for the Remix with Lil Mama: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CAoo71VEYhs

Both vids are totally fun. It’s a little different for Avril, and that’s okay because it really is just a fun song. If you’re a girl chances are you can relate at some point. This song comes off her album Best Damn Thing. This album is full of fun and girl power and personality just like you might expect from Avril. I think the only song so far that I don’t like off the album is “Hot” …. it just feels like a million kinds of wrong. As if someone said, “You have to do this song or else,” It doesn’t fit this CD, it doesn’t fit her style, it just doesn’t fit anywhere.

Best Damn Thing

1. Girlfriend (Radio Edit) 2. I Can Do Better 3:15 3. Runaway 3:49 4. The Best Damn Thing 3:09 5. When You’re Gone 6. Everything Back But You 7. Hot 8. Innocence 9. I Don’t Have To Try 10. One Of Those Girls 11. Contagious 12. Keep Holding On

I’d like to hear a little more kick coming from Avril again, and a little less “hot” … if there was a way to just wipe track 7 off the CD that would be awesome.

This band just suddenly emerged out of nowhere one day. They went from no-name never been heard of to being all over the radio practically overnight. And even if you didn’t like the Handlebars song the first time you heard it, trust me it kind of grows on you. It’s just… fun.

Or you can just grab the whole CD off the shelf like my husband did this weekend. Never send a man to Target to buy soap alone. He comes back with a CD and candy and forgets the soap.

Product Description
Formed as a cohesive alternative organism in 2005, the FLOBOTS `good-fight’ mythology can be traced via Denver’s underground vines and creative community of the late `90s when various members enlivened each others’ gigs and creative events, setting the charge that would eventually power up the band’s contagious and rollicking rock/rap pedigree. Their rousing live show, seasoned by classically trained viola player Mackenzie Robert’s innovative playing, sparked an impressive undertow of across-the-board support (including both coasts and off-the-grid territories such as Nebraska and Utah) as the group honed its glowing activist edge with a refreshingly positive message and bristling musicianship.

The prescient “Handlebars,” currently holding down a coveted `Top request’ slot at several key radio stations as well as being the Most Added at Alternative Radio, has placed FLOBOTS among the most buzzed-about newcomers in rock and rap circles. “‘Handlebars’ was written in the same way the group kind of blossomed,” says Jonny 5. “I had a friend a few years ago who asked me if I ever tried to ride my bike with no handlebars. I hadn’t, so I tried it. Got to thinking about all the other things I could do – we could do. The song came so fast to me I actually called my mom’s answering machine to record the lyrics and make sure I got it all down. Of course it’s also about how even our best intentions are laden with some sort of opposite. We like to think that FLOBOTS are about directing that positive energy into real change.”

[tags]music monday, flobots, handlebars[/tags]

It must be Justin Timberlake week inside my head or something. I watched the movie Alpha Dog over the weekend too, where you’ll find him doing a surprisingly good job at acting. I guess acting isn’t that much different than memorizing Insync dance moves, right? Anyhow… this song is stuck in my head so now it can be stuck in your head for awhile too. Enjoy the video and may you find yourself singing “tick tock tick tock” while you’re doing the dishes.

[tags]music monday, madonna, justin timberlake, 4 minutes[/tags]